Karma set to shine
Electric vehicle maker on verge of taking charge, David Booth writes.
How do we sell electric vehicles?
Actually, given the current state of electrified sales in North America, the question might more aptly be stated as, “How do we successfully sell electric vehicles to seemingly still reluctant consumers?”
It’s most certainly a question that preoccupies James Taylor.
The Ontario native is the chief revenue officer of Karma Automotive, so electric vehicles, and the selling thereof, are of utmost importance to the former president of Cadillac.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re struggling with matching the brand to car — you’re sure you know the name but you can’t quite place the face ... um, grille. OK, so here’s a clue: Think electric cars burning on a flooded dock in New Jersey. Yes, the Fisker Karma, the sexy extended-range hybrid that so wowed us back in 2011.
Taylor’s Karma — the brand is now named after the car and the car itself is now called the Revero — is a faithful recapturing, albeit much updated, of the original plug-in, the same captivating four-door coupe styling married to an extended-range electric powertrain, all swaddled in glove-soft leather.
Now owned by Chinese company Wanxiang, Karma is the rekindling of an idea that once challenged Tesla for the hearts and wallets of wealthy environmentalists.
Yes, I know it’s hard to imagine now, but in 2012, there was actually some question over which would prevail.
As to whether Karma can succeed where Fisker could not, Taylor points to the fact Wanxiang is China’s largest automotive parts manufacturer.
More importantly, it’s a privately owned company with deep pockets. Even more important, says Taylor, is that Karma-neeFisker’s new benefactors are not overly worried whether Karma sells 300 or 400 units this year. “They only look at the big picture,” says Taylor, “just the opposite of Henrik (Fisker, the founder of the eponymously named company)” who had to meet very ambitious sales targets foisted on him by shareholders.
Put it all together and the new Revero is every bit what the Karma was originally meant to be. Range is a very healthy — and fully substantiated by Yours Truly — 80 kilometres, thanks to the onboard 20.4 kWh battery.
Handling is far sprightlier than 2,449 kilograms has any right to be, and performance — thanks to 403 horsepower and 981 poundfeet of torque — is impressive, if not quite as scintillating as a Tesla Model S.
Most importantly, it is an electric car. Even when the turbocharged, 2.0-litre engine sourced from GM — with 235 hp — is spinning, only the twin rear electric motors drive the Revero. There’s a stealth mode (which runs on battery power alone until it will Lithium-ion no more), battery-save mode (when the engine kicks in to charge the battery on the highway so you can run in EV mode when you arrive at your destination) and sport (when the gas engine supplies the electric motors with juice simultaneously with the battery for maxim amperage). But the one common denominator, again, is that only the electric motors drive the wheels.
Will all these structural changes be enough?
Can Karma now make a go of it? Indeed, the even bigger question is whether any carmaker can sell their new emissions-free wares without the cultlike devotion surrounding Tesla.
So, as Taylor is surely wondering now that Karma has both its technical and financial houses in order, “what does it take to sell an electric car?”